POLICE were today investigating how to seize cash from fraudsters who used a loophole in company credit checks to launch a £1.4 million swindle based in Birmingham.

Fraud squad officers spoke after four men were jailed yesterday.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that the conspirators filed false accounts to give their business, Mercury Distribution Ltd, an aura of legitimacy, allowing them to order a range of goods, including seven luxury cars, on credit.

Over a four-month period from February 2005 they ordered goods such as mobile phones, cars, alcohol and steel totalling £1.4 million from well-known firms and small businesses to be delivered to an industrial unit in Tyseley.

Orange was left with a £190,000 debt and Vodafone lost £172,000.

The gang was caught when credit reference agencies became suspicious and alerted police.